Armana Milbry’s insecurities swelled as she stood in Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. As the comfort of her father’s goodbye hug quickly faded, she focused her thoughts on the impending 18-hour flight.

“I was a little nervous,” says Milbry of her trip to Hong Kong last summer. “I had such a fear of airports and getting lost.”

Until then, the Akron native’s travel experiences consisted mostly of family vacations to Disney World, Niagara Falls and Canada. This time she was alone — and en route to the other side of the world.

But one goal kept her grounded: “I knew I wanted to do it myself — no teachers, no parents, just me.”

Now the 20-year-old junior boasts a well-worn passport that’s been stamped in Ecuador, Japan, China and the Czech Republic. And she’s just getting started.

Milbry, a College of Business major, is one of 30 students in Ohio University’s Global Learning Community, the only two-year certificate program of its kind in the nation.

Developed in 1998 as a pilot project, the GLC prepares students for leadership opportunities in a rapidly changing international environment. Courses aren’t traditional in the sense that students listen to lectures and take tests.Instead, they are exposed to global issues and diverse cultures through team projects led by faculty.

“It’s not an easy program,” says GLC Director Greg Emery. “The students who join are motivated. They come to the program with a passion to learn more about the world. They also know that you need a global perspective to be successful in the business world today.”

Like most GLC students, Milbry lives on the ninth floor of Bromley Hall, where she and her classmates work on consulting projects for overseas companies and organizations.

Large corporations often work with students on product innovations, such as an idea proposed by Milbry and her classmates to develop laundry detergent in tablet form for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble.

Another recent team project took students to Ecuador, where they presented ideas to automobile executives on how to boost car sales.

But Milbry’s most rewarding trip began as her most nerve-wracking. In Hong Kong, she worked as an intern at the Asia Pacific headquarters of EDS, a Fortune 100 computer services company headed by Ohio University alumnus Dick Brown.

Besides working in the areas of finance, marketing and portfolio management, she learned a few Cantonese phrases, the proper way to fix Asian noodles and, most of all, how to open up to another culture.

“You see that people are people,” says Milbry, who plans to return to Hong Kong this summer to lead the company’s internship program. “And you also learn that people are different, but not because of race, culture or gender. They’re different because they’re individuals.”

And that’s the most important lesson to learn.